50 state roulette

ABSTRACT

A 50 state roulette game provides unique U.S. State related wagering opportunities while also enticing players with increased payouts. The 50 state roulette game may present the 50 U.S. States to players to allow related wagers to be placed. A corresponding roulette wheel may having roulette ball landing areas identifying U.S. States may also be provided. Winning and losing wagers may be determined based on an association between the U.S. State(s) on which a wager was placed and the U.S. State or other identifier on the landing area within which the roulette ball comes to rest.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a roulette-type game and in particular to a 50state roulette game.

2. Related Art

Traditional roulette games are played by spinning a roulette wheel inone direction while a ball rolls in an opposite direction in a track ofthe roulette wheel. The location on the roulette wheel where the balleventually lands determines the winner. While other wagering games havedeveloped new twists and features to entice players, the traditionalgame of roulette has remained largely unchanged for centuries.

From the discussion that follows, it will become apparent that thepresent invention addresses the deficiencies associated with the priorart while providing numerous additional advantages and benefits notcontemplated or possible with prior art constructions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A 50 state roulette game is disclosed herein. The 50 state roulette gameprovides unique wagering opportunities that are based on the 50 U.S.States and/or characteristics or identifiers thereof. The 50 stateroulette game thus provides enticement and player excitement throughthese wagering opportunities. In addition, the 50 state roulette gameoffers higher payouts further enhancing the attractiveness of the gameto increase game play.

As will be detailed further herein, the 50 state roulette game may beimplemented in various ways. For example in one embodiment, the 50 stateroulette game may comprise a casino or gaming table. Such table maycomprise a playing surface comprising inside wagering areas arranged ina grid with each inside wagering area having a first border in the shapeof a U.S. State and a surrounding second border.

Each first border may be a unique U.S. State. In addition there may be50 inside wagering areas so that all 50 U.S. States can be representedon the playing surface. Also, each inside wagering area may comprise aU.S. State name or abbreviation.

A roulette wheel having a rotatable portion may be included. Therotatable portion of the wheel may have landing areas arranged in acircular pattern, with each landing area configured to receive aroulette ball and to identify a U.S. State on the playing surface.

One or more outside wagering areas may be on the playing surface aswell. Each outside wagering area may identify a plurality of U.S.States. At least one of the outside wagering areas may be a dynamicwagering area that identifies a characteristic of a player related toone of the U.S. States. This allows wagers to be placed on a player'shome state, state of residency, or the like without explicitlyidentifying that particular state in an outside wagering area.

The playing surface may be configured to support one or more wagersthereon (such as in the form of tokens, currency, and the like). Thefirst border of each inside wagering area may have an enlarged sizegreater than any single one of the wagers. This prevents a wager fromobscuring the U.S. State associated with an inside wagering area.

It is contemplated that one or more sensors configured to determine ifthe wagers are within the first border of the inside wagering areas maybe part of the table as well.

In another exemplary embodiment, a 50 state roulette table felt may beprovided. Similar to above, the table felt may support one or morewagers thereon. Such table felt or surface may comprise 50 insidewagering areas comprising a border of each of the 50 U.S. States andarranged in a grid consisting of 5 columns and 10 rows. Each insidewagering area may have an enlarged size greater than a peripheral sizeof any single one of the wagers.

The inside wagering areas may have either a first or a second coloring.In addition, the inside wagering areas may alternate between the firstand second coloring from left to right across the grid. It is noted thatthe 50 inside wagering areas may each also comprise a second bordersurrounding the border of the U.S. State.

50 unique identifiers, each within one of the inside wagering areas, maybe configured to identify each of the 50 U.S. States. The 50 uniqueidentifiers may be various identifiers such as U.S. State names orabbreviations or numbers, such as numbers 1-50.

One or more outside wagering areas may be located at the periphery ofthe grid and identify a plurality of U.S. States. It is contemplatedthat an outside wagering area that does not identify a U.S. State couldalso be provided. In addition, similar to above, an outside wageringarea that identifies a characteristic of a player related to one of theU.S. States could be provided.

As detailed further herein, the 50 state roulette game could also beembodied in a method. For example, a method of providing a winning awardat a 50 state roulette game may be implemented. Such method may compriseproviding a casino table layout having each of the 50 U.S. Statesrepresented thereon, providing a roulette wheel having landing areasidentifying each of the 50 U.S. States, and receiving a wager on thecasino table layout at a border of one or more of the 50 U.S. States.

The roulette wheel may be spun to determine a landing area at which aroulette ball has come to rest. It may then be determined if the landingarea identifies the of the 50 U.S. States at which the wager wasreceived. A first award may be paid if the wager was received within theborder of the one or more of the 50 U.S. States, while a second award(distinct from the first award) may be paid if the wager was receivedoutside the border of the one or more of the 50 U.S. States.

It is noted that the provided roulette wheel may comprise a landing areathat does not identify any of the 50 U.S. States and, in such case, thesecond award may be paid if the roulette ball comes to rest at thislanding area. In addition or alternatively, the provided roulette wheelmay comprise a landing area that identifies all of the 50 U.S. Statesand, in such case, the second award may be paid if the roulette ballcomes to rest at this landing area.

The method may also include receiving a wager at an outside wageringarea identifying a plurality of the 50 U.S. States on the casino tablelayout. Alternatively or in addition, a wager may be received at anoutside wagering area identifying a player characteristic related to oneof the 50 U.S. States selected from the group consisting of the player'shome state and the player's state of residency.

It is noted that the 50 state roulette game may include variousautomated or electronic elements. For instance the border at which thewager has been placed may be detected or determined with one or moresensors mounted adjacent the casino table layout. Likewise, the landingarea at which the roulette ball has come to rest may be detected withone or more roulette wheel sensors.

Other systems, methods, features and advantages of the invention will beor will become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination ofthe following figures and detailed description. It is intended that allsuch additional systems, methods, features and advantages be includedwithin this description, be within the scope of the invention, and beprotected by the accompanying claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The components in the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasisinstead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention.In the figures, like reference numerals designate corresponding partsthroughout the different views.

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of an exemplary 50 state roulette game layout;

FIG. 2 is a top view of an exemplary 50 state roulette game table androulette wheel;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating operation of an exemplary 50 stateroulette game; and

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of an annotated exemplary 50 state roulettegame layout.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide a more thorough description of the present invention.It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that thepresent invention may be practiced without these specific details. Inother instances, well-known features have not been described in detailso as not to obscure the invention.

The 50 state roulette game herein includes a table layout comprising the50 U.S. States at which player wagers may be placed. Individual wageringor wagering areas can thus be readily identified. This is so even ifmultiple wagers are placed in the same area. In addition, the use of the50 U.S. States allows payouts at the 50 state roulette game to behigher, thus enticing players to play the 50 state roulette game.

The 50 state roulette game will now be described with regard to FIG. 1.FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary table layout 104 for the 50 stateroulette game. As can be seen, the table layout 104 comprises a numberof wagering areas 108,112. The wagering areas 108,112 are locationswhere players may place their wagers, and may be defined by a bordersuch as shown in FIG. 1.

In one or more embodiments, one or more of the wagering areas 108,112may have multiple borders. For example, as can be seen from FIG. 1, thewagering areas 108 comprise a first border 116 defined by the shape ofone of the 50 U.S. States and a second border 120, shown as asurrounding square or rectangular shape. It is noted that the secondborder 120 could be various other shapes as well.

The wagering areas 108,112 may be grouped into categories in someembodiments. In general, such grouping will be made according to thefunction or purposes of a wagering area 108,112. For example, in one ormore embodiments there may be inside wagering areas 108 and outsidewagering areas 112. As shown in FIG. 1 for example, the inside wageringareas 108 may be those containing the 50 states, while the outsidewagering areas 112 are the adjacent areas.

In general, the inside wagering areas 108 may be used to wager that aroulette ball will land on a particular U.S. State (or an identifier ofthe particular U.S. State) on the game's roulette wheel. The insidewagering areas 108 may also be used to wager on multiple U.S. Statesthat are adjacent to one another on the layout 104. This may occur byplacing a wager between two or more U.S. States. For example, placing awager between Florida (#9) and Georgia (#10) means that the player iswagering on the roulette ball landing on either Florida or Georgia. Ifthis should occur, the player would be a winner. As an example of awager on more than two U.S. States, the player may place a wager at theintersection of the wagering areas 108 for Arkansas (#4), Colorado (#5),Florida (#9), and Georgia (#10). In this example, the player would be awinner if the roulette ball lands on any of these U.S. States.

The inside wagering areas 108 may be used in various ways to receivedifferent types of inside wagers. As alluded to above, an inside wageris generally one where a player wagers that the roulette ball will landon a particular U.S. State or one or more U.S. States that are adjacentto one another on the layout 104.

In one embodiment, the type of inside wager may be determined by thelocation of the wager (e.g., tokens, currency, or other wagered items)relative to the second border 120 of a wagering area 108. To illustrate,receiving a wager within the second border 120 of a wagering area 108indicates a wager on the particular U.S. State within the second borderof that wagering area. A wager received on the second border 120 may beconsidered a wager a wager on multiple U.S. States (i.e., the U.S.States that share that second border 120). Wagers on columns, rows, orother border sharing wagering areas may be placed in this manner.

In another embodiment, the type of inside wager may be determined by thelocation of the wager relative to the first border 116 of a wageringarea 108. For instance, if the wager is received within the first border116, that wager may be deemed a wager on the particular U.S. Staterepresented by such first border. If outside the first border 116, thewager may be deemed a wager on multiple U.S. States. For example,outside the first border 116 of two U.S. States and between the two U.S.states, the wager may be for these two U.S. States. If the wager isreceived at a location between more than two U.S. States, such asdiagonal between such U.S. States, the wager may be deemed a wager onthese U.S. States.

It is noted that indicators may be present between the U.S. States toinform players where to place this type of inside wager. For example, amark or other indicator may be located between the 50 U.S. States on thelayout to receive wagers outside the borders of these states (i.e., thefirst borders 116). In addition or alternatively, in embodiments wherethe first border 116 defines the type of inside wager, it iscontemplated that the second border 120 need not be provided.

In one or more embodiments, outside wagers may be wagers on multipleU.S. States, at least some of which are not adjacent to one another. Ingeneral, outside wagers will be received at an outside wagering area112. The layout 104 of the 50 state roulette game may provide one ormore outside wagering areas 112 of various types. As shown in FIG. 1 forexample, outside wagering areas 112 for the U.S. (a wager on all U.S.States), the world (a wager that the roulette ball will not land on aU.S. State), particular groups of U.S. States (1-25, 26-15, etc . . . ),and U.S. States having a particular characteristic (odd or even number,color, etc . . . ).

Other outside wagering areas 112 are also possible based on thecharacteristics of the U.S. States. For example, U.S. States havingparticular letters in their name could form an outside wager. As anotherexample, the U.S. States could be divided into regions, such as by timezone or other characteristic. These individual groups may be used toform one or more outside wagering areas 112.

It is contemplated that dynamic outside wagering areas 112 could also beprovided. Dynamic outside wagering areas 112 may involve an externalcharacteristic, such as that of a player. For instance, a dynamicwagering area 112 may be labeled “State of Residence”, “Driver's LicenseState”, or the like. A wager received on this outside wagering area 112would thus be a wager on the player's state of residency (as my beidentified by a government identification or other identificationacceptable to the venue offering the 50 state roulette game). It isnoted that players may also or alternatively be asked to provide theirhome state, past/present state(s) of residence, or the like beforeplaying the 50 state roulette game. This information may be used in oneor more dynamic outside wagering areas 112. For example, a “States WhereYou've Lived” outside wagering area 112 could be provided with thisinformation.

In addition, the 50 state roulette game may receive combined wagers atlocations shared by an inside wagering area 108 and an outside wageringarea 112. For example, a wager received at a location on the border orotherwise between at least one inside wagering area 108 and at least oneoutside wagering area 112 may be deemed a combined wager on the outcomesrepresented by the inside and outside wagering areas. One or more marksor other indicators may be provided on the layout 104 to identifylocations at which combined wagers may be placed.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary 50 state roulette game layout 104 on anexemplary casino table 204. As can be seen a roulette wheel 208 is alsoprovided. The roulette wheel 208 may be configured for use with the 50state roulette game layout 104, such as by having a corresponding numberof ball landing areas 212. The roulette wheel 208 may have a fixedportion and a rotatable portion (i.e., the wheel). The fixed portion mayform a base or support for the rotatable portion. The rotatable portionor wheel may then rotate while supported by the fixed portion.Typically, the ball landing areas 212 will be on the rotatable portionof the roulette wheel 208. A track, groove, or the like for the rouletteball may be part of or supported by the fixed portion as well.

The ball landing areas 212 may be defined sections or areas of theroulette wheel 208 where a roulette ball may come to rest after theroulette wheel and ball are spun. In one or more embodiments, eachlanding area 212 may be delineated by a physical border such as one ormore ridges. This helps retain the roulette ball once it comes to rest,and prevents the ball from landing between landing areas 212.

In one or more embodiments, there may be at least 50 landing areas 212on the roulette wheel 208. These landing areas 212 would correspond toeach of the 50 U.S. States. The landing areas 212 may comprise a surfacepattern or other indicator identifying a particular one of the U.S.States. For example, a landing area 212 could comprise the U.S. State'sname, number, shape, or other characteristic/identifier. This associatesthe landing areas 212 with an inside wagering area 108 having the sameU.S. State on the table layout 104. In addition or alternatively, eachlanding area 212 may have a number, color, or other characteristic toassociate it with a particular U.S. State (i.e., inside wagering area108) on the table layout 104.

It is contemplated that the roulette wheel 208 may have one or morelanding areas 212 associated with outside wagering areas 112 in someembodiments. With reference to FIG. 2 for example, the roulette wheel208 may have 52 landing areas 212 associated with the inside wageringareas 108 for the 50 U.S. States and the USA and WORLD outside wageringareas 112. The landing areas 212 could also be associated with otheroutside wagering areas 112 in some embodiments.

It is noted that in some embodiments, the roulette wheel 208 need nothave a rotatable portion. In such embodiments, the landing areas 212 maybe fixed or non-rotatable. The roulette ball may be “spun” around atrack or groove and come to rest on one of the fixed landing areas 212to determine an outcome in such embodiments.

Operation of the 50 state roulette game will now be described withregard to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary 50state roulette game. Though described and illustrated in a particularorder, it is noted that some portions of the game may take place in adifference sequence in various embodiments of the 50 state roulettegame.

At a step 304, a wager may be received via the 50 state roulette game'slayout. From a player's perspective, this will typically occur byplacing an identifier, such as one or more tokens, at at least one ofthe layout's wagering areas. Multiple wagers may be accepted from one ormore players. An outcome may then be determined at a step 308, such asby spinning the roulette wheel and/or roulette ball. The landing area atwhich the roulette ball comes to rest can then be used to determinewinning and losing players. In general, players who correctly wagered onthe roulette ball landing in the landing area the ball actually came torest in would be deemed winners, as will now be described.

At a decision step 312, it may be determined if any inside wagers arewinners. For example, if a wager was received within the border of oneof the U.S. States on the layout or within the surrounding second border(of such inside wagering area), and the roulette ball landed on alanding area also bearing that U.S. State, the wager may be deemed anwinning inside wager. If the wager was received between two or more U.S.States (such as described above), and the roulette ball landed on alanding area bearing at least one of these U.S. States, the wager mayalso be a winning inside wager. The winning inside wagers may be paid atstep 316. Further details regarding winning payouts of the 50 stateroulette game will be described further below.

At a decision step 320 it may be determined if any outside wagers arewinners. For example, if the roulette ball lands on landing area havinga U.S. State that is identified by the outside wager (i.e., is one ofthe U.S. States in the group identified by an outside wagering area),the wager may be deemed a winning outside wager. If a WORLD or non-U.S.State outside wagering area is provided, a wager on such area would be awinner if the roulette ball landed on a landing area that does not bearor otherwise identify a U.S. State. For example, if the roulette balllands on a landing area for 00 or WORLD, such a wager would be a winner.Winning outside wagers may be paid at a step 316.

If combined wagers are available in the particular 50 state roulettegame being played, it is noted that decision step 312 may be used todetermine if the inside portion of the combined wager is a winner.Likewise decision step 320 may be used to determine if the outsideportion of the combined wager is a winner. Payout of combined wagers maythus also occur at step 316.

It is noted that the layout may include various automated elements, suchas electronic elements. For example, the layout may detect where wagersare placed on the layout such as to determine if the wager is an insideor outside wager and/or to determine what the wagers is on. Toillustrate, a sensor may be used to determine whether a wager is placedwithin the border of a U.S. State or the surrounding second border ofits inside wagering area. The sensor may also determine if a wager isplaced within an outside wagering area, and/or if the wager is placedbetween two or more inside or outside wagering areas. It is contemplatedthat the roulette wheel may have one or more sensors or detectors aswell to automatically determine the landing area at which the rouletteball has landed.

In some embodiments, the 50 state roulette game or portions thereof maybe fully electronic. For example, the roulette wheel may be anelectronic representation of a roulette wheel implemented via a randomnumber generator and display screen. The layout may be electronic aswell. For example, the layout may be presented on a display screen. Thedisplay screen may be touch sensitive to accept player input such aswagers. The display screen or other inputs (such as buttons) couldreceive the location at which a player wishes to place his or her wager.For example, an input device may be used to receive player inputidentifying the one or more U.S. States a player wishes to wager on insome embodiments.

One or more processors, such as integrated circuits, microprocessors, orthe like may be provided to calculate payouts for winning wagers, suchas based on the odds of the 50 state roulette game. The processors mayexecute one or more instructions hardwired into the processors and/orreadable from one or more memory or storage devices.

In addition to providing various unique wagering opportunities based onU.S. States, the 50 state roulette game also provides other advantages.For example, use of the U.S. States on the layout allows wagers to bereadily identified since one or even multiple tokens would not obscurethe entire border of a U.S. State on the table layout. In addition, bypresenting the U.S. States as wagering opportunities, players utilize adifferent thought process in placing wagers. This provides a type ofenticement that is at least distinct from traditional roulette games.Fans of roulette style games may thus increase their play as a result ofthe 50 state roulette game.

Another significant advantage is that the 50 state roulette game offersincreased payouts. This provides a strong incentive for players to playthe 50 state roulette game (on top of the new wagering opportunitiesoffered through use of the 50 U.S. states in the game). This enticementincreases player enjoyment and excitement, while increasing game play.Therefore, both gaming venues and players can benefit from the 50 stateroulette game. The players can especially benefit if they win, due tothe increased payouts provided by the 50 state roulette game as comparedto traditional roulette games.

To illustrate this increase, in one exemplary embodiment of the 50 stateroulette game, the following payouts may be provided for traditionalroulette wagers. The wager numbers make reference to FIG. 4, whichillustrates another exemplary 50 state roulette layout. As can be seen,the 50 state roulette game is capable of offering significantly higherpayouts for these wagers in addition to unique wagers and the otherbenefits of the 50 state roulette game.

TABLE 1 50 State Roulette Game Payout Comparison # Wager 50 StateRoulette Payout 1 Straight Up 47 to 1  2 Split 23 to 1  3 Three WaySplit 15 to 1  4 Four Way 11 to 1  5 Five Way 9 to 1 6 Seven Way 6 to 17 Ten Way 4 to 1 8 U.S. States 1-25 or 26-50 1 to 1 9 Odd or Even U.S.States 1 to 1 10 Red or Blue U.S. States 1 to 1 11 Column 4 to 1

While various embodiments of the invention have been described, it willbe apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that many moreembodiments and implementations are possible that are within the scopeof this invention. In addition, the various features, elements, andembodiments described herein may be claimed or combined in anycombination or arrangement.

What is claimed is:
 1. A 50 state roulette game table comprising: aplaying surface comprising inside wagering areas arranged in a grid,each inside wagering area having a first border and a surrounding secondborder, the first border in the shape of a U.S. State; a roulette wheelhaving a rotatable portion, the rotatable portion comprising landingareas arranged in a circular pattern, each landing area configured toreceive a roulette ball and identifying a U.S. State on the playingsurface; and one or more outside wagering areas on the playing surface,each outside wagering area identifying a plurality of U.S. States;wherein the playing surface is configured to support one or more wagersthereon and the first border of each inside wagering area has anenlarged size greater than any single one of the one or more wagers. 2.The 50 state roulette game table of claim 1, wherein each first borderis a unique U.S. State.
 3. The 50 state roulette game table of claim 2,wherein the playing surface has 50 inside wagering areas.
 4. The 50state roulette game table of claim 1, wherein each inside wagering areafurther comprises a U.S. State name or abbreviation.
 5. The 50 stateroulette game table of claim 1, wherein at least one of the outsidewagering areas is a dynamic wagering area that identifies acharacteristic of a player related to one of the U.S. States.
 6. The 50state roulette game table of claim 1 further comprising one or moresensors configured to determine if the one or more wagers are within thefirst border of the one or more inside wagering areas.
 7. A 50 stateroulette table felt comprising: 50 inside wagering areas comprising aborder of each of the 50 U.S. States, the 50 inside wagering areasarranged in a grid consisting of 5 columns and 10 rows; a first and asecond coloring, each of the inside wagering areas having either thefirst or the second coloring; one or more outside wagering areas locatedat the periphery of the grid, the one or more outside wagering areasidentifying a plurality of U.S. States; 50 unique identifiers configuredto identify each of the 50 U.S. States, each of the 50 uniqueidentifiers within one of the 50 inside wagering areas; wherein thetable felt is configured to support one or more wagers thereon and eachinside wagering area has an enlarged size greater than a peripheral sizeof any single one of the one or more wagers.
 8. A 50 state roulettetable surface of claim 8, wherein the inside wagering areas alternatebetween the first and second coloring from left to right across thegrid.
 9. A 50 state roulette table surface of claim 8, wherein the 50inside wagering areas each comprise a second border surrounding theborder of the U.S. State therein.
 10. A 50 state roulette table surfaceof claim 8, wherein the 50 unique identifiers are each a U.S. State nameor abbreviation.
 11. A 50 state roulette table surface of claim 11,wherein the 50 unique identifiers each further comprise a unique numberbetween 1-50.
 12. A 50 state roulette table surface of claim 8 furthercomprising an outside wagering area that does not identify a U.S. State.13. A 50 state roulette table surface of claim 8 further comprising anoutside wagering area that identifies a characteristic of a playerrelated to one of the U.S. States.
 14. A method of providing a winningaward at a 50 state roulette game comprising: providing a casino tablelayout having each of the 50 U.S. States represented thereon; providinga roulette wheel having landing areas identifying each of the 50 U.S.States; receiving a wager on the casino table layout at a border of oneor more of the 50 U.S. States; spinning the roulette wheel to determinea landing area at which a roulette ball has come to rest; determining ifthe landing area identifies the one or more of the 50 U.S. States atwhich the wager was received; paying a first award if the wager wasreceived within the border of the one or more of the 50 U.S. States; andpaying a second award if the wager was received outside the border ofthe one or more of the 50 U.S. States, the second award distinct fromthe first award.
 15. The method of claim 14 further comprising receivinga wager at an outside wagering area on the casino table layout, theoutside wagering area identifying a plurality of the 50 U.S. States. 16.The method of claim 14 further comprising receiving a wager at anoutside wagering area on the casino table layout, the outside wageringarea identifying a player characteristic related to one of the 50 U.S.States selected from the group consisting of the player's home state andthe player's state of residency.
 17. The method of claim 14, wherein theprovided roulette wheel further comprises a landing area that does notidentify any of the 50 U.S. States, wherein the second award is paid ifthe roulette ball comes to rest at this landing area.
 18. The method ofclaim 14, wherein the provided roulette wheel further comprises alanding area that identifies all of the 50 U.S. States, wherein thesecond award is paid if the roulette ball comes to rest at this landingarea.
 19. The method of claim 14 further comprising detecting the borderat which the wager has been placed with one or more sensors mountedadjacent the casino table layout.
 20. The method of claim 14 furthercomprising detecting the landing area at which the roulette ball hascome to rest with one or more roulette wheel sensors.